Cogs and Queens (Eberron Fan Fic) - Week 10
Content Warning: Course Language, Depression, Violence.
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https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S0z2iDg9ZF7diC1Zz0n_E7F0lfaxWmmq/view?usp=sharing Properly formatted version.
Mercury’s consciousness comes back to the realm, Kal screaming at Mercury’s face, Tal panicking in the corner of the room.
“Wake the fuck up, god damn it! Don’t die on me! Wake up!” Tal screams.
Mercury coughs, turning on their side, vomiting off the bed, a stream of blood mixed with bile landing on the floor.
“Oh, thank gods,” Kal says. “Your pulse stopped. I thought you were gone!” they brace themselves against the nearby wall.
Mercury looks up at Tal with watery eyes. “The fuck you doin’ here?”
“I’m glad to see you ali—”
“Fuck off, Tal,” Mercury says, rolling back onto the bed.
“Are you okay? How do you feel?” Kal asks, holding Mercury’s cheek.
“I had a bad dream when I apparently flatlined.”
“You sure you didn’t go to the afterlife?” Tal asks.
Mercury reaches for the scalpel holstered on Kal’s chest. They whip it across the room at Tal, shattering against the wooden frame next to him with lightning speed.
Tal backs away through the door, his hands raised.
“What about your wrist? Is it still in pain?” Kal asks.
“I can feel it, but it doesn’t hurt. What did you do?” Mercury replies.
“I injected a mix of medicines into your wrist, which will influence the bones to heal faster,” Kal says.
Mercury raises their arm, looking at their wrist. “I can’t move it. I mean. Not that I’d want to. But it’s not flopping around.”
“Magically in place. With a spell. It’s set to release in two days when it should be healed.”
“Thanks…” Mercury says. “I need to get out of here. I need to get home,” Mercury hoists themselves up with their mechanical arm.
“Try to rest until it’s healed. Please.” Kal places a hand on their shoulder.
“I have one thing I need to do before I rest…” Mercury moves to the side they didn’t vomit on, and with their mechanical hand, breaks their revolver forward. They reach in behind their back under the coat, feeling for a pouch of ammo. They take out a single bullet and load it into their gun.
“Mercury, please,” Kal says. “Don’t do this.”
Mercury cracks the revolver back and walks around the bed. They head for the doorway cocking the hammer of their gun. As they walk into the hallway, they spot Tal sitting at a table in the kitchen. Mercury points their gun at them, eyes full of fury.
Tal raises his hands, squirming back in his seat. He falls out, tumbling backward, hitting his head on the bricks of a fireplace behind him. He looks up at Mercury, fear in his eyes. “No, please, I’m sorry!” he yells, looking at his gun across the room.
“Get the fuck out of Sharn by morning, or I’m coming for you!” Mercury shouts.
“What? Where do you expect—”
Mercury screams in frustration, tears streaming down their face. “Fucking leave gods damn it!”
“I’ll be seeing you,” Tal says with a straight face.
Mercury kicks the table over, landing on Tal, and storms out of the room. They push through the front door out onto the street, tears streaming down their face.
V
Mercury sank deeper and deeper into the cold water. Life had been a mess for them, and every day brought increasingly tricky struggles. I wonder how Quinton’s doing… Haven’t seen ‘em since I fled. Their bottom meets the flooring of the deep stone tub, their eyes tight shut.
A vision comes to them, a dream, though not quite. Mercury finds themselves standing in a wheat field, grain growing to knees height. They spot a newly painted farm house, with an older man out the front hacking away at wood. Two small pink tieflings come running out of the house. “Mercie, Merry! Behave!” a familiar voice calls from inside the house.
Mercury begins walking towards the farm house, pushing their way through the fields of wheat. That’s not…
“Come here you two!” the voice calls, an older pink tiefling with a small frame rushing out the door.
“Mom! Can we go to the markets today!?” one of the twins call.
“Mercie, not today, we already told you we can on weeks end,” the older tiefling says, kneeling to them.
“But moooom, I wanna get apples!” Mercie says.
“We have apples inside, sweetie.”
“They’re green!” Merry says. “I want red!”
“Mercie, Merry… Please. If you behave and wash your clothes, I’ll add some extra spice into tonights stew.”
“Okay!” the two children shout, and run back inside.
The figure turns out looking across the field, locking eyes with Mercury, yet seeing right through them. They pull their hood and cloack back, revealing their mechanical arm and identical yet older face to Mercury.
Mercury opens their eyes, gently feeling the bottom of the tub, using their tail to propel them back up towards the surface.
“I was worried for you,” Davil says from Mercury’s right.
“Oh, Davil!” Mercury scurries out of the tub, over the edge, their tail making up for their broken wrist. They launch into Davil’s arms, smiling as tears stream down their cheeks. “I asked for you, but you were working.”
Davil gently pets them on the back of the head. “Are you okay? What happened.”
“Remember Tal?” Mercury asks.
“Tal?”
“The half-orc who showed me around when I first came to Sharn,” Mercury says. “He introduced me to Quinton? Use to ride with the gang a few years ago?”
“I remember,” Davil says.
“Fucker broke my wrist. He hurt me bad. He used me. In more ways than one,” Mercury says nervously.
“Gods damn, Mercury. What did I tell you?” Davil hugs them tight, their wet body soaking into Davils clothes.
Mercury cries into their shoulder for many minutes, Davil tearing up himself, for he had rarely seen Mercury in such a state.
V
Mercury lays tucked tight against Davil’s chest, watching the lantern light shimmering in through the windows. “I wish it was moonlight.”
“Would you like that?” Davil asks, sroking their cheek.
“Yeah. I would.”
“Take a break from this life, Mercury. Spend a few weeks with me. Come with me out of town, leaving Sharn for awhile. We can go to a small town and rent a room there. Get a different pace for awhile.”
“I’d like that,” Mercury says, their tail coiling around Davil’s leg.
“I’m glad,” Davil moves his hand down from Mercury’s check, resting his hand on their upper belly.
“You know… I think I might want kids one day,” Mercury says nervously.
“You want kids?” Davil asks surprised.
“Yeah. I mean. I can dream… But this curse on me… I don’t know if it will let me… If I can find a way to fix myself. Maybe that’s something I can do.”
“Let me get this straight. You? I mean. What would you want your kids to call you?”
“Mom. I don’t care if it’s inheritly gendered. I just think it’s nice. Claim it for myself,” Merucry says.
“Crazy. Mother Mercury. Mommy Mercury. Mamma Mercury,” Davil says giggling.
“Okay, stop!” Mercury replies, laughing. “I live every second like it’s my last… But it doesn’t hurt to dream once in awhile.”
“I love you, Mercury,” Davil says. “I don’t want to loose you.”
Mercury rolls their head to look at Davil, a smirk on their face. “I know, Davil… I don’t know I can promise to live…”
“Just don’t try to die, okay?” Davil asks.
“If anything happened to you… If anyone hurt you… I’d not stop until they were dead.” Mercury says. They lean up, kissing him, and roll back into being little spoon. Two weeks outside of Sharn. Never been away for more than a night… Not since I came here.
V
Mercury slowly moves across the room, looking out of the top floor naked. What does it mean? I was where early? The curse? Kal said I flatlined… I was dead…
Davil gently wraps his arms around Mercury from behind. “So when did you want to leave?”
“End of week?” Mercury asks. “I promise to rest until then. I won’t go out looking for a fight.”
“I trust you,” Davil says.
“I trust you too…” Mercury replies. They try to flex their right wrist, yet remains completely fixed.
Mercury closes their eyes, leaning backwards into Davil’s chest, taking a deep breath in, and taking the moment to think.
To be continued…